Quirks of Life starting
with X is the letter 'X'. Reading on it, I found it to be very fascinating as it has different origins and has been used differently in many cultures. This is part of April
A-Z challenge details of which is present here.

A memory of a childhoodIt isFor you could sit byAnd watch the world passing by

An audience you becomeFor the actors of the streetAs you watch the dramaHappening before you

Theplay beginsWith the first ray from sunThe birds taking flightAs the first actors arrive

Actors fill thestagePlaying their part

Emotions galore- Laughter, criesAnd occasional silences

Yet none aware ofBeing part of the playFor an unknown faceBeside the window

The actors leave the stageAs the night arrivesBringing millions of starsMaking the little heart smile

For the sky is adornedWith million little jewelsGiving birth to million dreamsLulling the tired eyes to sleep

Quirks of Life starting
with W is Window Virus which has always kept me fascinated. Sitting by a window with a coffee in hand still is one of my favorite pastimes. This is part of April
A-Z challenge details of which is present here.

PS: After the talk that virus gave, the venerable one also decided to give my body a visit and had been a painful visitor for the past few days. So fell behind in the challenge for the second time.

Friday, April 26, 2013

Quirks of Life starting
with V is Venerable Virus which has existed from the beginning of life and still needle proud humans every now and then. This is part of April
A-Z challenge details of which is present here.

Pulling it out from the crevices of various living cell, I have managed to get one virus talking for the A-Z challenge and having seen one and all, it surely is the Venerable Virus!

From the times when a living cell originated in sea, I was
there needling the living cell. I have continued the needling across the
centuries needling all the organisms across all kingdoms including huge
dinosaurs and the current rulers of earth - humans. However, in terms of pure
numbers, I rule the world.

A very simple makeup consisting of DNA/RNA, protein and
lipid layer is all that is needed to make me. This makes me highly adaptable to
various circumstances that earth can provide. Now this is called elegant design
by the Universe/Creator, whichever school of thought you come from.

Only by
changing a small set of combination of DNA/RNA, I can turn into numerous
different types ranging from absolutely lethal to harmless ones too. However,
whatever the case, it is always a pain for the host.

However, humans being the smartest of species have created a
digital version of me. Like me, it is created by few strands of software code
that has the ability to reproduce and propagate. But it is a bawdy copy of me.

The software code is unsustainable and these viruses have very little
shelf-life. Humans, however smart they consider themselves to be can never come
up with the elegant design that Universe/Creator could conjure up.

More importantly, there are now species of me that can
immediately clean up huge number of human population. Strategies have been devised
to counter me.

But I cannot be killed. How can they kill something which is not
alive in the first place? The only thing
that humans can be done is wait for my next juggle of RNA/DNA and voila they
will be spending billions to counter me. Ha ha to that!

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Quirks of Life starting with U is Uncontrollable Urge. The urge to do something which we are not supposed to do is always there. Difference is some of us know to control it. Rest of the mortals like self succumb to it. Here is a micro-fiction of 55 words celebrating just that. This is part of April A-Z challenge details of which is present here.

His coach’s instruction rang in his ear. No shooting. Only pass the ball. But the urge of
shooting over goalkeeper's head remained. He had controlled. But then he had
the ball. Suddenly, everything blanked out. He saw himself shooting the ball. He
was helpless. He looked back for reproach but instead saw a happy coach.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Quirks of Life starting with T is Towel. This is part of April A-Z challenge details of which is present here.

It was Douglas Adams who identified my true talents and made me famous across the world. 25th of May is also being celebrated as a Towel Day.The immortal words can be found here. So what does an humble towel has that much more celebrated items that man has invented does not have. Well apart from the obvious and words dedicated by Doug, I do come in picture during many of the marital tiffs. An example is given below:

First Year of Marriage

He has left his wet towel on the bed. Guys will be guys!
Everything has to be taught to them. Without me, how can he live? So sweet!

Second Year of Marriage

He forgot his wet towel on bed. He needs to be more serious
in marriage and take more responsibility to live a meaningful life.

Third Year of Marriage

This is twice in two months that he has left his wet towel
on the bed. We are going to have kids and he is still behaving like one. When
will he learn?

Fourth Year of Marriage

There is this baby screaming. I have to do all these chores
and above everything else he still has left his wet towel on the bed. He is
treating me like a maid.

Fifth Year of Marriage

Four times in last two weeks. Can't you do one little thing
right? How many times have I told you not to leave the wet towel on the bed
like that? Kids are growing but an old man is turning into a kid.

Sixth Year of Marriage

This is it. You keep on treating me like a maid and I am
done with this marriage. I will take my kids and go. Then you will remember not
putting the wet towel on the bed.

Seventh Year of Marriage

Wet Towel on the bed and an empty house!

So thats done with the example and now leave you to ponder about my existence!

PS:I wanted to write something absolutely pointless. Not that the other were not pointless but I wanted to climb the peak of pointlessness! Moreover, I wanted it to be aligned it to the theme - Quirks of Life. Somehow, felt the towel fit the bill perfectly.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Quirks of Life starting
with S is Story. Stories from childhood help us begin understand the different aspects of life. Here is a story about story itself. Hope you enjoy it! This is
part of April A-Z challenge details of which is present here.

Far away in some landA long long time agoA little bird chirpedStory was its name

For it chirped talesInto its little master's earFor stories no one knewHow it came or from where

The little master regaledThe fables of little storyPopular he becameFor the fables were enchanting

Men, women and childrenAll sat by listening to talesThat little story weavedRetold by its little master

Came a fateful day thenLittle Story fell illNo tale it could weaveFor even a blooming flower fades

Inconsolable the little master wasAnd desolate was the village

Yet when Story sleptIts last ever sleep

A promise it madeWeave a tale it willIn all the village's heartFor a noble heart it had

And Story was re-bornInto the hearts of all menWeaving stories for agesSpreading cheer all around

And that my friend howStories came into beingAnd a lot called story-tellersFor everyone likes a good story!

Monday, April 22, 2013

Quirks of Life starting with R is Running. Running - one activity that we engage in from the beginning and somehow it stays with us throughout our lives. This is part of April A-Z challenge details of which is present here.

From the time we learn walking, we want to run. We want to
reach somewhere faster than our walking legs would want to take us. It may be an
allure of a toy, or a sweet or maybe a simple hug from our parents.

We run for
it because we want it more than anything else at that point of time. In school,
too the first competition we are put in is where we have to run faster than
rest of the kids around us.

Overtime, this running translates into chasing our dreams.
Few of us give up at an early stage. Fewer still keep on running for it hoping
for luck. Some of us will be in a perennial stop-start-stop mode. Fewer still
will go the distance. Yet some of us who abandoned chasing our dreams are put
into another race.

This race designed by society where you are given the
responsibility to study, get a job, get married, acquire wealth as much as
possible, have kids and tell the kids to do the same thing over again. It is a
peculiar race where getting to each milestone means you have to run harder than
before.

There is no stopping in this race. Your friends and families, ask you
to go further and further so that you are better your peers and other people.
Some of us live out our entire lives in this race without stopping missing out
on the smaller intangible pleasures of life.

Some of us get an epiphany, and we
realize this running is not worth and get out of it sooner and start running to
chase their dreams. This restart of an abandoned race will be done with more vigor
and resolve than before.

Maybe we forget to
stop in this race. We never stop running until our body gives up. In the movie - The Pursuit of Happyness, there is a scene when the voice over describes -

"This part of my life is called running." May be we forget that running is still only the part of life in that sentence!

PS: The entire idea for the post came from that one line - This part of my life is called running. Somehow that line had stayed with me and it came back when I thought of writing this.

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Quirks of Life starting
with Q is queue. Somehow we are placed in one of the many queues of the world knowingly or unknowingly. This is part of April A-Z challenge details
of which is present here.

We are put in various queues even before we know about
it.The lady at the hospital when we
were born would put us in one of her queues based on her priorities. During the
kinder-garden days, you are put to queues so that the teachers can manage a
group of bawling and screaming kids.

As you grow up you see your parents being
put in various queues and you realize that by staying in queue, you attract
order and civility in life unless you are in India. Queues are one of those things in India whose meaning gets
so much distorted that only people living in India can understand.

For
centuries, India had followed a caste system. So when the concept of queue was
introduced by British, the caste-system manifested into this queue as well. The
whole point of staying in queue waiting for your turn was lost.

The main objective became find ways to beat the queue.
People use their wealth, connections and sometimes even a small bribe to the
peon who is looking after the queue to beat the queue. After all with a
population of India, it may cost you a lifetime if you diligently wait for your
turn.

Moreover, even the
sperm that reached the egg first would have jumped the queue. So jumping the
queue can be blamed on our genes. But then there is a silver lining to this
dark cloud as well.

There is special community in Kerala that follow the queue religiously.These are the regular consumers of alcohol who form a queue in front of a wine shop. This queue is followed religiously as breaking this
queue here getting more than a single bone broken.There is also a mark of respect here as people acknowledge that their need is as strong as other person's and so let us respect this strong need and stay put.

With the advent of technology, system-generated queues came
into picture and now there is whole branch of study to optimize the service
time and reduce the lengths of the queues. However, even the laptop you are
using is putting your requests on a queue from time to time.

The processor happily puts your innumerable requests such as
playing a song, browsing a website, opening document into a queue and services
at its own convenience. Even the websites that you visit put you in different
sets of queues that you can hardly imagine.

So even if you think you are not in queue, the environment
around you has been designed in such a way that eventually you are in queue
perpetually!